


Sigma Delta Tau

by NYWCgirl



Category: White Collar
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Fraternity, Emotional Hurt, Friendship, Gen, Hazing, Hurt No Comfort, Spanking, Students, Swearing, irresponsible behaviour, nervous breakdown
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-12
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2019-03-17 09:50:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13656522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NYWCgirl/pseuds/NYWCgirl
Summary: Peter is a member of fraternity Sigma Delta Tau. He finds out the pledge masters have gone too far.





	Sigma Delta Tau

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written for the February Challenge in H/C Bingo Round 8. The squares were: abandonment issues, hazing/bullying, nervous breakdown, wild card (spanking).  
> It also fills the 'forgiveness' square in my H?/C Bingo card.

‘Peter, the new pledges are here, are you coming?’

Annoyed, Peter diverts his gaze from his computer to his visitor.

‘No Hugo, I need to finish this paper, I already told you I am not participating this year.’

‘OK, but you will come and have a drink tomorrow night, right?’

Peter sighs. He needs to get rid of Hugo if he ever wants to finish this in time. Hugo has clearly been drinking and never knows when he has overstayed his welcome.

‘Yeah, I will, now don´t you have to haze some pledges?’

Hugo smiles with an evil smirk.

‘You are right, I do. See you tomorrow.’

 

*  *  *

 

Peter stretches and rubs his eyes. He is exhausted, and in need of a break. Pushing his chair back, he gets up and stretches. It feels good to stand up. Maybe there is coffee in the kitchen.

When he opens the door of his bedroom, he can hear the cheering and shouting downstairs. Right, the hazing, he was so focused, he forgot about it. He walks down and runs into some of his brothers, who clearly have been drinking heavily.

When he enters the common room, he can see the sixteen guys who want to pledge. They are kneeling in front of a table and one boy is being spanked. Peter remembers when he stood bend over that table. The ten swats had hurt, but the humiliation had burnt longer than the pain had. It also mend he passed the initiation rites. He waves at some of his brothers and before he knows it, a beer is pressed in his hand and he chugs it down in habit. His friends cheer and holler and he can see the pledges look at him with a sort of longing look.

‘Hey Pete, decided to join us after all?’

‘No, I need to finish my assignment. Professor Tikal threatened to inform coach, so I really need to finish this. But I will join you later tomorrow.’

‘Whatever man.’

Peter walks into the kitchen and makes some coffee. Walking back, his eye falls on a young looking boy. His blue eyes look scared and panicked. He is breathing more rapidly than he should, probably raised very protectively. He remembered that one of the pledges was only seventeen. Peter keeps looking and notices that there is no humiliation. If he had to name it, he would say it more like panic. The boy is pale and trembling. He is still debating if he needs to intervene, when a clap on his shoulder draws his attention.

‘Kris wants to see you, he is in his room.’

Peter nods and is dragged by his brother towards the stairs. He quickly runs up, he should be finishing his work. He enters the room without knocking.

‘Kris, you wanted to see me?’

‘Yeah, Hugo told me you need to turn in your paper tomorrow.

‘Hugo was right. Why?’

‘Can you turn mine in as well? That way I can help the pledge masters.’

‘Sure, is it ready?’

Kris hands him an envelope and smiles.

‘Thanks man, I owe you one. Now I can go get some beers.’

‘Don´t overdo it, OK?’

‘I wouldn´t dare.’

 

*  *  *

 

The next morning, the house is empty, they probably went out with the new ones on some stupid assignment or to hose them down or something.

‘Hey Peter.’

Kortney enters the kitchen.

‘Hi Kortney, I don´t know where Hugo is. I just got down.’

‘That´s OK, I will wait in his room.’

‘Sure.’

Peter puts the coffeemaker on and takes the cereal box and milk and sits down to have breakfast. Somewhere halfway through his breakfast, Hugo walks in.

‘Kortney is upstairs,’ he says without looking up.

‘Great, I asked her to come over to have some fun with one of the pledges.’

‘Which one?’

‘Scrawny kid, brown hair, blue eyes.’

‘Don´t get too rough with the kid.’

‘Why?’

‘I don´t know, just a feeling. I think he can be a good addition to Sigma Delta Tau. He is the smart one, isn´t he?’

Hugo nods.

‘Think about it, he can do your papers.’

Only now Hugo seems to realize the benefits.

‘Hadn´t thought about that.’

‘Why are you riding him so hard?’

‘Who says we do?’

‘Well, if you asked Kortney to come over, I pity the guy.’

‘Nah, he is just being a sissy. Man, I really thought he was going to cry when we locked him in the tank. Yelling and screaming.’

Peter’s gut tells him something is not right, he had seen it last night and hearing Hugo describing the pledge doesn´t make him feel better.

‘Look, I need to go turn these papers in, but then I will come over. Where is the rest?’

‘Frank suggested an elephant walk, but I told him I didn´t need a sexual harassment complaint.’

Peter shakes his head, Frank never knows when to stop. Peter gets a cup of coffee and hears Hugo go upstairs. He already feels sorry for the new guy. Kortney has a reputation in her sorority and enjoys humiliating the pledges. Peter always wondered if she even realizes what sort of a person that makes her. He checks his watch and quickly finishes his coffee, grabbing his coat and the papers and hurrying out the door.

 

*  *  *

 

‘Hey Peter! We expected you earlier.’

‘I was held up.

‘Oh yeah, held up. Is that what they call it. Who was she? That new cheerleader, you know the one with the brown hair and blue eyes.’

‘You mean Kathy?’

‘So you do now her name.’

Peter smiles, she really is a nice girl.

‘No man, dean Spooner wanted to talk to me.’

‘Do I want to know what about?’

‘No, I don´t think so.’

‘Are you coming with me to the tank?’

‘What? You left that guy in there?’

‘Yeah, the little shit was complaining of being dizzy and an upset stomach earlier this morning. You should have heard him yelling when we left him.’

‘When was this?’

‘I don´t know, last night?’

‘Did you check on him during the night?’

‘No, that is what we are going to do right now. So are you coming or not?’

‘You shouldn´t have left him there. What was he yelling about?’

‘I don´t know, something about not leaving him alone. Who cares man, he is going to wash out anyway.’

‘You are a fucking moron, Brady. I won´t always be around to take care of your homework. We can use a serious student in the house. Let´s go.’

When they arrive, it is quiet. Too quiet. Brady starts banging on the heavy iron door. When there is no response, Peter starts to worry.

‘Open the door Brady. Did you feed him alcohol?’’

Brady shakes his head. ‘Not a lot, I don´t know, he refused for God knows what reason.’

‘He is a Goddamn minor, Brady. How could you be this stupid? Get that door open.’

Brady produces the key and Peter rips it from his fumbling fingers. He pulls open the door but his eyes need a moment to adjust before he sees the freshman laying curled up in a corner. Peter kneels next to him and touches him. He can feel the shallow breaths and he sighs in relief.

‘Hey, wake up.’ He tries gently.

When the boy doesn´t respond, Peter slowly turns him on his back. He is surprised to see the boy´s eyes are open but staring blankly ahead.

‘What is his name?’

‘What?’

‘What is his fucking name, did I stutter?’

‘I don ´t know.’

‘You don´t even know his name? What is wrong with you guys?’

‘Wait, it´s… let me think, Neal!’

‘Neal?’

‘Yeah, I remember Hugo making fun of it when he had to kneel.’

‘Call an ambulance. Brady, now!’

Peter shifts his attention back to Neal who is still unresponsive.

‘Neal?’ Can you hear me? An ambulance is on its way. Hang in there, OK? I am here, my name is Peter.’

 

*  *  *

 

After the ambulance takes Neal, Peter wants to follow. But Brady grabs his arm. Peter stares at the hand and then up to Brady.

‘I suggest you let go, Brady.’

‘What are you doing, man?’

‘Checking how he is. What do you think? He is our responsibility.’

‘Remember the Silence, OK?’

Peter studies Brady for a second.

‘You are serious? You still think this is a hazing prank? Open your eyes. A student is just taken to hospital. Get out of my way!’

Peter gets in his car and drives to the local hospital. While he walks up to the desk, he realizes he knows nothing about Neal.

‘Good afternoon, my name is Peter Burke and I am here for the student that was just brought in by ambulance, his name is…

‘Neal Caffrey, yes, and what is your relation to him?’

‘He doesn´t have any family and he lives in my fraternity.’

The nurse eyes him but nods.

‘He is in curtain number five. You can go in.’

Peter is surprised that he is allowed to enter the ER, but he needs to make sure Neal is OK. Neal Caffrey, so that is the kids name.

When he pushes the curtain to the side, a nurse looks over her shoulder.

‘You’re a friend of Neal´s?’

‘Yes, the nurse at the desk told me I could come in. is he OK?’

‘We are waiting for a psych consultant. Physically he is OK, did he had a lot to drink?’

‘No, he hasn´t. Well not that I know of.’

‘We did a blood test anyway. But that is good to hear, sometimes you hear these horrendous stories about alcohol abuse during hazing.’

‘Yeah, but that isn´t the case. Can it be that he had a mental breakdown?’

The nurse studies him. Do you know anything we should know?’

‘No, he is a brother and I just want to make sure he is alright. I don´t want him to be alone.’

‘Well, you can wait him until the doctor gets here.’

 

*  *  *

 

‘Hi Neal.’

‘Oh hi Peter. I didn´t expect you here today, didn`t you have class this afternoon?

‘It was canceled, so I thought I would come over and sneak in some coffee.’ Peter produces the travel mug from under his jacket.

Neal´s eyes light up and he eagerly takes the travel mug and keeps it out of sight of people who might enter the room.

‘How are you today?’

‘OK I guess, they are going to discharge me.’

Neal sounds a bit down.

‘Hey, that is great news. Wow.’

‘Yeah, it is good news. but…’

‘I also have some news, can I tell?

‘Of course. What is it?’

‘Well, after your incident you know I left Sigma Delta Tau, together with Mozzie and Kris. I don´t know how he did it or even if I want to know, but Mozzie got us  house. It is a really big house and has four bedrooms.’

‘That is good news, great, so you are not homeless anymore. But like I told you before, you shouldn´t have left the fraternity on my behalf.’

Peter can´t believe what he is hearing.

‘Yeah, I did, look Neal, it was unacceptable what they did to you. It was wrong in so many ways. But did you hear what I said? Tthe house has four bedrooms, we kept one room available. We want you to join us in the house.’

Neal´s eyes widen.

‘You would still want me as a roommate, after everything that happened. I…’

Peter can see Neal is having a difficult time facing his situation.

‘Neal, what happened was not your fault, we talked about this before. Remember? Your past is YOUR past, and it should have stayed in the past. The fraternity should have been more careful. You can work through this, you don´t have to do this alone.’

‘Yeah, but the pledge masters didn`t know about my abandonment issues. They couldn´t have known I would not be able to cope.’

‘That may be so, but again, that is no excuse for what happened, they should have taken care of a person in need of help, a future brother, none the less.’

Neal nods.

‘Still, I hold no grudge, and I wouldn´t be able to live with myself if I wouldn´t forgive them.’

Peter eyes him skeptically, ‘Really?

‘For myself, I don’t think I am ready to say that to them yet, but for myself, yeah, I do.

‘Good for you. But seriously, we want you to join us as a roommate. We put it to a vote and it was unanimously.’

‘You really want me to join you guys?’

‘Yes, we really do. Look, we now about your family situation, so Mozzie took care of everything. Think about it, you don´t need to make a decision now, but we really want you to come and stay with us. Mozzie will be here soon to meet you, he is a bit strange and quirky but he is OK. And Kris you already met before.’

‘OK, I guess.’

Peter gives Neal an encouraging smile and gestures to someone behind Neal´s back. Neal turns around and can see an older student with glasses. He is dressed a bit nerdy but he introduces himself to Neal and they hit it off immediately with Neal challenging Mozzie´s statements.

When Kris joins the group, they agree to keep Neal company until the doctor makes rounds and they get info on when Neal will be discharged. They will take care of Neal, that I what brothers do for each other, even if they are not family.


End file.
